


Family History, A

by Sparesmom



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Angst, F/M, Post Bartlett Administration
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-07-14
Updated: 2005-07-14
Packaged: 2019-05-15 13:02:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14791001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sparesmom/pseuds/Sparesmom
Summary: Life after the White House as CJ and Danny share their lives.





	Family History, A

**Author's Note:**

> A copy of this work was once archived at National Library, a part of the [ West Wing Fanfiction Central](https://fanlore.org/wiki/West_Wing_Fanfiction_Central), a West Wing fanfiction archive. More information about the Open Doors approved archive move can be found in the [announcement post](http://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/8325).

**A Family History**

**by: CJ Clanton**

**Character(s):** CJ, Danny  
**Pairing(s):** CJ/Danny  
**Category(s):** Angst, Future  
**Rating:** YTEEN  
**Summary:** Life after the White House as CJ and Danny share their lives.  
**Author's Note:** Warning, major character death. 

2049 

The nurse is silent, respectful, as she gently removes the piece of paper clutched in his hand. They were such a loving couple and he took care of her, even when she didn't know who he was anymore.

The nurse never knew the smiling woman in the picture before the fog clouded her mind, but she recognizes the love she saw on their faces over the last six years.

She notices writing on the back and turns it over, struggling to read his shaky printing. "I would rather walk with her through Hell than spend eternity in Heaven alone." 

2049 

The sunshine is gone and he can't imagine a cold and empty future without her. He takes one last look at the small pills in his hand. Ever the researcher, he had checked, it would be enough. 

His other hand holds a photo, his favorite, of a tall, laughing woman in a wedding gown, standing in the Rose Garden, a lowering sun casting a halo around her. He lays down beside her and glances again at the brief words he wrote.

A swallow, a sip of water, he kisses her cool lips one last time and goes to sleep. 

2046 

Eleven weeks on the best seller lists, her editor is talking about a Pulitzer. "CJ Cregg, Beyond The White House" by Abigail Jean Concannon is surpassing all expectations, except her father's, of course. She only wishes. . . 

She places the book gently in her mother's lap and opens it to the dedication page. "For my mother who believes in me. I remember it all Mama." She watches as one trembling finger traces the words and even though she knows CJ no longer understands, she is grateful that she fulfilled her promise.

History will remember what her mother can't. 

2041 

He pretends not to notice the way her hands tremble as he takes the brush from her and pulls it through strands now more silver than gold.

It's hard to watch her slipping away, but after 34 years together, he could no more sleep alone than he could turn back the clock and regain the eight years they wasted. Her feeble hand reaches up to pat his own snowy hair and a tear slips from the corner of his eye.

For a moment, there is a spark of recognition in her face. It is enough. It has to be. 

2033 

He hopes that Abigail Jean can cheer her mother up. Her flight from DC lands in an hour and he can hardly wait. He hopes she will remind CJ of everything they have built together. 

He can feel her pulling away from him, more each day, and he knows she wants him to leave her. That she wants to spare him "the long goodbye" that is coming, but he is stronger than she gives him credit for. 

He has waited for her to come around before, he is patient. She's his world. He can remember for both of them. 

2027 

"I hate this." She cries. He takes the purse from her and begins putting back the things she dumped on the table. 

"We'll find your earrings, CJ. You probably left them at home." He speaks quietly but she won't be calmed. 

"This is how it starts, the forgetting. It was the same for Daddy." 

"Peeps, you know even the doctor isn't sure it's Alzheimer's yet, people do lose things sometimes. Just because Tal had it doesn't mean you will." 

"Hold me, Danny. Love me til the fear is gone." Her eyes are bleak as she moves into his embrace. 

2016 

She doesn't talk about the fear, but still he knows. He thinks if he loves her enough it will go away, but she knows it won't. It's always there, a cloud haunting her days, but for him she pretends. 

He doesn't know how afraid she was to have a child, how close she came to ending it, but in the end she couldn't. 

She's glad now, Abigail Jean is the light of her life. She can almost forget that Tal didn't live to meet his grandaughter, that already her memory is failing her, but in the end she can't. 

2009 

"Push, Peeps. Just a little more. You can do it." 

She's tired, this wasn't supposed to happen. She feels too old for this. This is supposed to be her time to relax and enjoy life with her husband. She is still getting used to the idea of being somebody's wife, how can she be somebody's mother? 

"It's a girl, Peeps. We have a daughter." He places the tiny, red- faced bundle on her chest and her arms instinctively come up to cradle the helpless newborn. 

"You have a big name to live up to Abigail Jean. You are my legacy."


End file.
